10 facts about the bridge on the river kwai

Although the obvious link was by sea, Allied submarines controlling the region made it too treacherous. He described the music for The Bridge on the River Kwai as the "worst job I ever had in my life" from the point of view of time. By 1944, its operational capacity was being massively hampered by the damage caused by air raids. David Lean is taken that story and directed it in 1957. Laughton would die (of cancer) five years later, at the age of 63. train on the bridge over the river kwai in kanchanaburi, thailan - bridge over the river kwai stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images FLOATING HOUSES ON THE RIVER KWAI, KANCHANABURI, THAILAND. Further afield, and appealing to my military family war history, is Kanchanaburi with its war cemetery and bridge over the Kwai river which is made famous by the Oscar winning film The Bridge on the River Kwai. Moreover, Kanchanaburi has an annual "Bridge Over the River Kwai" week, which has a sound show to relive the moments of World War II. The finished screenplay had significant contributions from both Wilson and Foreman, though each went to his grave insisting he was the more important contributor. In 1999, the British Film Institute voted The Bridge on the River Kwai the 11th greatest British film of the 20th Century. For one sunset scene, David Lean specifically traveled 150 miles to capture it. The bridge cost $250,000 to build. Only minor damage was inflicted. Answer (1 of 7): David Lean made some excellent films His Dickens films of the 1940's are classic black and white versions of OLIVER TWIST and GREAT EXPECTATIONS He discovered color and the wide screen in the 1950's and 1960's Besides BRIDGE, Lean also did LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and DR ZHIVAGO Peo. He was listed as missing in action in June 1943. Here is 'Minder' telling me to get the timber off the base and start cutting up the dowels. In many tense, dramatic scenes, only the sounds of nature are used. [26], A memorable feature of the film is the tune that is whistled by the POWsthe first strain of the "Colonel Bogey March"when they enter the camp. The Bridge on the River Kwai Facts for Kids. Nicholson advises Saito that the officers cannot be required to do manual labour according to the Geneva Convention. But Laughton, a fine actor with such credits as The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) on his resume, was in poor physical shapegreat for playing the corpulent Henry VIII in Young Bess (1953), not so great for playing a British military officer in a prison camp. Then he hired Lean to directand Lean didn't like Foreman's version. Also, in the novel, the bridge is not destroyed: the train plummets into the river from a secondary charge placed by Warden, but Nicholson (never realising "what have I done?") They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. Sessue Hayakawa edited his copy of the script to contain only his lines of dialog. 28. In fact, two bridges were built: a temporary wooden bridge and a permanent steel/concrete bridge a few months later. 60,000 or so Allied prisoners of war, including British, Australian, Dutch and some US troops, alongside more than 200,000 civilian labourers were pressed into service. Despite the discomfort the rest of the crew were experiencing, Lean was thrilled about the shoot and never complained about his living conditions. Highly competent work is also done by William Holden, Jack Hawkins and Sessue Hayakawa". The story about this bridge has also been made into a Hollywood movie such as "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957), which is based on the novel of the same name and another movie . Work on the bridge proceeds badly, due to both the faulty Japanese engineering plans and the prisoners' slow pace and deliberate sabotage. Laughton was in his habitually overweight state, and was either denied insurance coverage, or was simply not keen on filming in a tropical location. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Bridge On The River Kwai Trivia: Fun And Interesting . There are tourist trains to Nam Tok stopping at stations in between daily from the River Kwai Bridge station at 06.05, 11.00 and 14.30. Search by location, regiment, nationality, and more fields to find the war dead involved in building the blood-soaked Burma-Siam Railway. Explore the CWGC Archive through our online portal. Nicholson forbids any escape attempts because they were ordered by headquarters to surrender, and escapes could be seen as defiance of orders. Casualties commemorated at Chungkai are mostly men who died in the field hospital set up by prisoners. The surviving sections stand as monuments to the men who suffered so much to build them. According to Columbia Pictures, they followed an all-new 4K digital restoration from the original negative with newly restored 5.1 audio. This article is part of our Classic Film Throwback series - By Sam Hendrian - "Madness. David Lean, a British director then in his late forties, had made 11 films, including well-received adaptations of Charles Dickens (Great Expectations, Oliver Twist) and Noel Coward (Blithe Spirit, Brief Encounter). THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI takes place in Japan-occupied Siam (later Thailand) in 1943, after the Imperial Japanese Empire has conquered vast territories of Asia. Nicholson undertakes the construction of a well-made bridge, at first thinking it a good way to improve the morale and discipline of his regiment but gradually coming to regard the structure not as a part of the enemy war effort but as a monument to British ingenuity. The destruction of the bridge as depicted in the film is also entirely fictional. Everywhere in the jungle, the graveyards made their appearance; starting in a small way they gradually grew bigger, until when the railway was completed at the end of the year, thousands of bodies lay in the jungle from one end to the other.. But I am writing a factual account, and in justice to these menliving and deadwho worked on that bridge, I must make it clear that we never did so willingly. The steel bridge was repaired and is still in use today. Allied bombers struck the wooden bridge and its concrete counterpart in February 1945 with one of the earliest uses of guided bombs in history. Return trains are 12.55 and 15.15. Workers died at a rate of 20 men per day. Around 90,000 forced labourers are thought to have died building Death Railway. The bridge depicted in the film is most definitely real. 14- "Be happy in your work.". Nicholson will not cooperate and finally insists that the bridge can be built only under his command. Construction began before anyone had been cast. Geoffrey Horne saved his life. Joyce, manning the detonator, breaks cover and stabs Saito to death. Both writers had to work in secret, as they were on the Hollywood blacklist and had fled to England in order to continue working. Starring Alec Guinness, it depicts the struggles and defiance of Japanese prisoners of war building the fictional Burma railway between 1943-44. While the story is fiction, the broader setting--including the construction of the Burmese railway--is based on historical events. It had previously belonged to an Indian maharajah and had seen 65 years of active service. An estimated 80,000 to 100,000 civilians also died in the course of the project, chiefly forced labour brought from Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, or conscripted in Siam (Thailand) and Burma. The film is a work of fiction but borrows the construction of the Burma Railway in 1942-43 for its historical setting. Warden tells the Siamese women that he had to prevent anyone from falling into enemy hands, and leaves with them. David Leans 1957 epic Bridge on the River Kwai is regarded as one of the all-time great war films. The movie is based on the novel "Le Pont de la Riviere Kwai" by Pierre Boulle. Only he survives, though he is wounded. [21] Guinness later reflected on the scene, calling it the "finest piece of work" he had ever done. A sketch of that bridge was used as the basis for the fictional one. 21. [56] Warren Buffett said it was his favorite movie. The conditions to which POW and civilian labourers were subjected were far worse than the film depicted. The young soldier from Suffolk was dispatched to work on the bridge over the River Kwai, one of the railway's most daunting engineering projects. [10], Although Lean later denied it, Charles Laughton was his first choice for the role of Nicholson. Its a charming, idyllic spot, belying the intense horror and suffering the men who built it went through. By the end, prisoners working on the rail route werent calling it the Burma-Siam Railway. She spent most of the next 42 years working as a copy editor and editor at Encyclopaedia Britannica. [40], The Bridge on the River Kwai was a massive commercial success. Death Railway was bombed heavily by the Allies from 1943 onwards. 10. Thanbyuzayat is in Myanmar. But he'd never made anything on an epic scale, wasn't well known outside of England, and wouldn't have been considered for The Bridge on the River Kwai if it weren't for Katharine Hepburn, the star of his 1955 film Summertime. But in Bangkok I was told that David Lean, the film's director, became mad at the extras who played the prisonersusbecause they couldn't march in time. The movie garnered seven Academy Awards, including that for best picture, as well as three Golden Globe Awards and four BAFTA awards. Jun 7, 2011 - New on Blu 6-7-11: Studios unload nearly 70 titles. Bridge On The River Kwai is an Epic war-based film. The Kanchanaburi Memorial sits with the cemetery grounds. Thanbyuzayat was originally a POW administration headquarters and base camp. They built a railway to link Bangkok to Rangoon. Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson have written the screenplay for this film. Sessue Hayakawa really did accidentally strike Alec Guinness hard enough to draw blood in one scene. The curved-shaped truss spans are the originals on the bridge (constructed by the Japanese military during WWII) while the two trapezoidal-shaped bridge spans were provided by Japan as war reparations after the war ended in 1945 (to replace two curved-shaped truss spans that fell into the river after the bridge was attacked and bombed by Allied aircraft. Ernest Gordon, a survivor of the railway construction and POW camps described in the novel/film, stated in his 1962 book, Through the Valley of the Kwai: In Pierre Boulle's book The Bridge over the River Kwai and the film which was based on it, the impression was given that British officers not only took part in building the bridge willingly, but finished in record time to demonstrate to the enemy their superior efficiency. In the film, Lt. Col Nicholson is seen collaborating with his captors, even under duress. After the final scene was shot, producer Sam Spiegel shipped the movie footage on five different planes to minimize the risk of loss. 13. In 1997, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress. Vital equipment that would normally have been shipped through the canal had to be flown out to the location instead. Toosey was very different from Nicholson and was certainly not a collaborator who felt obliged to work with the Japanese. But the unusual move paid off for ABCthe telecast drew huge ratings with a record audience of 72 million[60] and a Nielsen rating of 38.3 and an audience share of 61%. The majority of its smaller components are originals, while a few are post-war replacements. Tonight, enjoy dinner at a hotel restaurant Overnight: Kanchanaburi [60] The 167-minute film was first telecast, uncut, in colour, on the evening of 25 September 1966, as a three hours-plus ABC Movie Special. It was repaired in time to be blown up the next morning, with Bandaranaike and his entourage present. This Oscar-winning epic is part of movie folklore and widely considered to be one of the greatest films ever so I really wanted to see the area where director David Lean shot it way back in 1957. The key sites containing Thailand and Burma war graves related to Death Railway and the Bridge on the River Kwai are: Kanchanaburi War Cemetery is located a short distance from the former Kanburi POW camp. Explore the story of the CWGC, from our formation during the First World War to our work today. Tracy had read the book and told Spiegel emphatically that the part must be played by an Englishman. He didn't like the next draft of the screenplay, either, because it made Nicholson "a blinkered character." The events depicted in the film, of a chaotic Commando raid and Lt. Col Nicholsons wounded body falling dramatically on the detonator and blowing the bridge up, are completely false. Lamb, as he was known, had been a politician before calling up, serving the state legislature in Victoria, Australia. The Bridge on the River Kwai, commonly referred to as the Railroad of Death or Death Railway, which stands in Kanchanaburi, Thailand, was one of only eight steel bridges of the estimated 688 that were built. The telecast of the film lasted more than three hours because of the commercial breaks. During the cutting of Hellfire Pass, for example, 69 men were beaten to death across a twelve-week period. However, cameraman Freddy Ford was unable to get out of the way of the explosion in time, and Lean had to stop filming. California Doubling: The film is set in Thailand, but was filmed in Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), a distinction the publicity of the time didn't see fit to make clear.Instead, it raved about the movie being shot in Ceylon in a way which implied the real-life River Kwai was located there. It was 425 feet long, 90 feet high, and cost $52,085 out of the film's $2 million budget. Initial estimates from Japanese engineers suggested it would take five years. After the enlisted men are marched to the bridge site, Saito threatens to have the officers shot, until Major Clipton, the British medical officer, warns Saito there are too many witnesses for him to get away with murder. Lambs sister received a letter from him in September 1943, saying he was in excellent health and being treated well by his captors. Copyright 2020 Tons Of Facts. - Colonel Saito, 'The Bridge on the River Kwai '. Disease was a huge killer among railway workers, but so was brutality. THE HEAD OF COLUMBIA PICTURES FORCED LEAN TO ADD A LOVE SCENE. It was more of a transit hub where prisoners were moved to other work areas along the railway route. The bridge in the movie was near Kitulgala. Sessue Hayakawa (1889-1973) was a Japanese-born actor who came to Hollywood in the very early days of cinemahis first short, The Typhoon, was made in 1914and quickly became a matinee idol, playing exotic villains and such. $ 3 million (estimated) The Bridge on the River Kwai is a British 1957 movie from Columbia Pictures, based on Pierre Boulle 's 1952 book The Bridge over the River Kwai ( French: Le Pont de la Rivire Kwai ). Cafes and tourist spots dot the banks of the Khwae Noi. [22], Lean nearly drowned when he was swept away by the river current during a break from filming.[23]. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 epic war film directed by David Lean and based on the 1952 novel written by Pierre Boulle. Questions or feedback on our new site? He joined up in 1940 and served in the Middle East with the 2/2nd Pioneer Battalion before transferring back to the Dutch East Indies in early 1942. Clipton objects, believing this to be collaboration with the enemy. "[17], The film was made in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Saito leaves the officers standing all day in the intense heat. rainy day Therefore, there are not many people. 7. 17. When the sun rises, the commandoes realize that the water level in the river has fallen, exposing the explosives and wiring. The Bridge Over the River Kwai won seven Academy Awards (including Best Picture) in 1958. Goering Wise: "I never heard it in Thailand. Parts of the Burma-Siam railway still stand. For the scene when Colonel Nicholson emerges from the oven after several days confined there, Alec Guinness based his faltering walk on that of his son Matthew Guinness when he was recovering from polio. His compassion and insistence on equality amongst the ranks ensured he protected his men as best he could. The film has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In reality, Risaburo Saito was respected by his prisoners for being comparatively merciful and fair towards them. The rail link, however, would . Lean wanted Charles Laughton (who'd starred in his 1954 film Hobson's Choice) to play Colonel Nicholson, the role that ultimately went to Alec Guinness. Guinness regarded this one tiny scene as some of the finest work he did throughout his entire career. [30], A 1969 BBC television documentary, Return to the River Kwai, made by former POW John Coast,[33] sought to highlight the real history behind the film (partly through getting ex-POWs to question its factual basis, for example Dr Hugh de Wardener and Lt-Col Alfred Knights), which angered many former POWs. Mitch Miller had a hit with a recording of both marches. They were calling it the Death Railway. The movie won seven Academy Awards, one for Best Picture. He wanders into a Burmese village, is nursed back to health, and eventually reaches the British colony of Ceylon. For the novel, see, American theatrical release poster, "Style A", A transcript of the interview and the documentary as a whole can be found in the new edition of John Coast's book, Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, 11th greatest British film of the 20th century, the highest-grossing film of 1957 in the United States and Canada, Best Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures, Best Sound Track Album, Dramatic Picture Score or Original Cast, AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition), "Complete National Film Registry Listing", "New to the National Film Registry (December 1997) - Library of Congress Information Bulletin", "Columbia Earns as It Holds Coin Due Bill Holden on 10% of 'Kwai', "Flashback: A look back at this day in film history (, "Sri Lanka to rebuild bridge from River Kwai movie", "Film locations for David Lean's The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957), in Sri Lanka", "How Father Brown Led Sir Alec Guinness to the Church", "sic - correct spelling is Siegertsz. Use our postcode search tool to discover more about the war dead from your local area. As the train approaches, they hurry down to the riverbank to investigate. Though he'd already earned five Oscar nominations (three for directing, two for adapting the Dickens novels) and would soon be widely celebrated for Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and Doctor Zhivago (1965), at this stage, Lean was in trouble. It was released in the US on December 14, 1957, taking in a reported $17M+, which made it the highest-grossing film of 1957. The Bridge on the River Kwai, British-American war film, released in 1957 and directed by David Lean, that was both a critical and popular success and became an enduring classic. [49] Mike Kaplan, reviewing for Variety, described it as "a gripping drama, expertly put together and handled with skill in all departments. David Lean was completely at home in the hot and humid Ceylon jungle. But whats the real story? It was still highly unusual at that time for a television network to show such a long film in one evening; most films of that length were still generally split into two parts and shown over two evenings. Lean insisted that Laughton could lose weight before shooting began, but Columbia Pictures' insurance underwriters refused to cover him, saying he was too unhealthy to endure several months on location in the jungles of Ceylon. [40] Boulle had never been to the bridge. Prisoners, including the sick, were marched to camps further along Death Railway. Basically, the bridge was built during World War II when the Japanese occupied Siam (now Thailand) and neighboring Burma (now Myanmar . The film"s story was loosely based on a true World War II incident, and the real-life character of Lieutenant Colonel Philip Toosey. On another occasion, they argued over the scene where Nicholson reflects on his career in the army. Its construction came about because Japan needed another supply route to link Singapore and Malaysia to its possessions in Burma following Singapores fall in February 1942. Drilled holes for the piers; and cut them to length. The real swamps in Ceylon were deemed to be too dangerous. The commandoes arrive for their mission as the finishing touches are being put on the bridge. Check here to see our open positions and volunteer roles. Aerial reconnaissance photo of the Steel Bridge taken during a bombing raid. Around 3,100 Commonwealth Burma war graves can be found at Thanbyuzayat, alongside roughly 620 Dutch burials. 23. Spiegel had it refurbished completely and then had one mile of railway track laid for it. See details. So Spiegel hired another writer, Calder Willingham, to give it a crack. TakeMeTour's Review. The cemetery was established by the Army Graves Service to hold casualties made along the railways southern Bangkok to Nieke section. Some of the Second World War's fiercest battles involved bridges and inspired some riveting accounts - capture of key bridges (Cornelius Ryan's "The Longest Day"; Stephen. The official credit was given to Pierre Boulle (who did not speak English), and the resulting Oscar for Best Screenplay (Adaptation) was awarded to him. It is also known as the "River Kwai March". "[50] Kaplan further praised the actors, especially Alec Guinness, later writing "the film is unquestionably" his. The real Bridge over the River Kwai is bridge 277 of the Burma-Siam Railway. [citation needed], Julie Summers, in her book The Colonel of Tamarkan, writes that Boulle, who had been a prisoner of war in Thailand, created the fictional Nicholson character as an amalgam of his memories of collaborating French officers. The Bridge on the River Kwai is a classic 1957 British-American war film based upon the 1952 novel Le Pont de la Rivire Kwai by Pierre Boulle. Although the Death Railway has never again reached the Myanmar border, a shorter stretch was reopened by Thailand's railway authorities between 1949 and 1958, and trains on this modern-day line cross the infamous Bridge on the River Kwai. All the filming locations of The Bridge on the River Kwai are listed below. 15. Surviving veterans consider Toosey one of the finest officers they ever served under. At their head was Lieutenant-Colonel Phillip Toosey. From iconic memorials to local churchyards, there is unique heritage to explore across Great Britain. However, in 1943 a railway bridge was built by Allied POWs over the Mae Klong river renamed Khwae Yai in the 1960s as a result of the film at Tha Ma Kham, five kilometres from Kanchanaburi, Thailand. Kanchanaburi town is located around 130 kilometres northwest of Bangkok. Read more. Both bridges stood for two years and were destroyed by bombers in 1945. He, Shears, and Joyce reach the river in time with the assistance of Siamese women bearers and their village chief, Khun Yai. Cast the Expert: Percy Herbert, who played the role of a prisoner of war in the film, actually spent four . The filming of the bridge explosion was to be done on 10 March 1957, in the presence of S.W.R.D. Under cover of darkness, Shears and Joyce plant explosives on the bridge towers. One of a number of Allied POW"s . They are joined by approximately 1,850 Dutch casualties and one non-war grave. The place is regarded as "The Symbol of Peace". The bridge construction is going badly, however, and Saito offers concessions to Nicholson in an effort to get the structure completed on schedule. It worked. In the setting of World War II, a defeated unit British Soldiers is marched into a Japanese prison camp in western Thailand, with the purpose of constructing a bridge over the River Kwai to carry a new railway line to invade Burma. [31] He strongly denied the claim that the book was anti-British, although many involved in the film itself (including Alec Guinness) felt otherwise.[36]. A Smith article describes bridge on River Kwai, near Kanchanaburi, Thailand, built by Allied POWs during Japanese occupation of Thailand in World War II and subject of famous film The Bridge on . Imperial Japanese Army Command deemed this unacceptable. Reviews There are no reviews yet. All Rights Reserved. For many, its their first exposure to the horrors prisoners of wars suffered in the Far East. The British soldiers were slaves; they did not help the Japanese. The bridges were quickly repaired with the use of POW labour from the camp at Tha . In January 1943, a base hospital was organised to care for sick and injured prisoners and labourers. But poor old Goebbels On 16 October 1943, the two ends of the Burma-Thailand railway were joined at Konkoita in Thailand. Nicholson is shocked by the poor job being done by his men and orders the building of a proper bridge, intending it to stand as a tribute to the British Army's ingenuity for centuries to come. It spans crosses the lazily winding Khwae Noi at Kanchanaburi, Thailand. What's your favorite? Desperate, he uses the anniversary of Japan's 1905 victory in the Russo-Japanese War as an excuse to save face; he announces a general amnesty, releasing Nicholson and his officers and exempting them from manual labour. He shows a rare sense of humor and a feeling for the poetry of situation; and he shows the even rarer ability to express these things, not in lines but in lives. [11] Guinness admitted that Lean "didn't particularly want me" for the role, and thought about immediately returning to England when he arrived in Ceylon and Lean reminded him that he wasn't the first choice. They were supported by an unknown number of Malaysian labourers. Some Japanese viewers resented the movie's depiction of their engineers' capabilities as inferior and less advanced than they were in reality. 18. [9], The film was relatively faithful to the novel, with two major exceptions. The United States Army Air Force (USAAF) was the first to conduct air raids on the bridges over the River Kwai between November 1944 and January 1945. David Lean's 1957 epic Bridge on the River Kwai is regarded as one of the all-time great war films.

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